Curtly Ambrose
Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose (21 September 1963) is a former cricketer from Antigua who played 98 Test matches for the West Indies. A fast bowler, he took 405 Test wickets at an average of 20.99 and topped the ICC Player Rankings for much of his career to be rated the best bowler in the world. His great height—he is 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) tall—allowed him to make the ball bounce unusually high after he delivered it; allied to his pace and accuracy, it made him a difficult bowler for batsmen to face. A man of few words during his career, he was notoriously reluctant to speak to journalists. He was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1992; after he retired he was entered into the International Cricket Council Hall of Fame and selected as one of West Indies all-time XI by a panel of experts. Born in Swetes, Antigua, Ambrose came to cricket at a relatively late age, having preferred basketball in his youth, but quickly made an impression as a fast bowler. Progressing through regional and national teams, he was first chosen for the West Indies in 1988. He was almost immediately successful and remained in the team until his retirement in 2000. On many occasions, his bowling was responsible for the West Indies winning matches which seemed lost, particularly in association with Courtney Walsh. Against Australia in 1993, he took seven wickets while conceding a single run; in 1994 he was largely responsible for bowling England out for 46 runs, taking six for 24 (six wickets for 24 runs). Ambrose's bowling method relied on accuracy and conceding few runs; several of his best performances came when he took wickets in quick succession to devastate the opposition. He was particularly successful against leading batsmen. From 1995, Ambrose was increasingly affected by injury, and several times critics claimed that he was no longer effective. However, he continued to take wickets regularly up until his retirement, although he was sometimes less effective in the early matches of a series. In his final years, the West Indies team was in decline and often relied heavily on Ambrose and Walsh; both men often bowled with little support from the other bowlers. Following his retirement, Ambrose has pursued a career in music as the bass guitarist in a reggae band. County cricketer and success against England Northamptonshire County Cricket Club signed Ambrose to play for the team in 1988, but owing to his commitments to the touring West Indies team that year, his debut for the county came in 1989. He took a wicket with his first delivery for the club, but was not particularly successful in the first part of the season, although he settled down later and took 28 first-class wickets at 28.39 for Northamptonshire in nine games. Early in 1990, England toured the West Indies and played four Tests—a fifth was abandoned owing to rain. The visiting team dominated the first part of the series but West Indies eventually won 2–1. Ambrose was unfit for the first Test, which West Indies lost, and the first four ODIs, but returned to take four for 18 in an ODI organised to replace the rained-off second Test. After a drawn third Test, West Indies won the fourth game. The home captain, Viv Richards, set England 356 to win, but after losing early wickets, the English batsmen entered the last hour of the game with five wickets still to fall. Ambrose took the new ball and removed the last five batsmen for 18 runs in 46 deliveries, four of them leg before wicket. He finished with figures of eight for 45, ten wickets in the match, and West Indies levelled the series with a 164-run win. Ambrose was man of the match. He took six wickets in the final match, to finish the series with 20 wickets at 15.35, finishing top of the West Indies' averages. Ambrose, along with the other home bowlers, was described by Alan Lee in Wisden as an "awesome handful in the latter part of the series", and described his match-winning spell in the fourth Test as "unforgettable". Ambrose's other appearances for West Indies in 1989–90 were all in ODIs, although he did take more than two wickets in any innings except in the match against England. He also took 22 first-class wickets for the Leeward Islands, and when he returned to England to play for Northamptonshire, took 58 first-class wickets in generally good conditions for batting to top the club's bowling averages. In one-day cricket for the county, he took 13 wickets while conceding an average of just 2.53 runs per over. Category:Northamptonshire cricketers Category:West Indian cricketers